Persian/Farsi/Dari/Tajiki

I'm 19, about to enter my second semester of college, and an air force recruiter contacted me, saying that Persian/Dari/Taijiki, Pashto and Urdu translators are currently easily employed by the government. I have a few questions about this:

1. How similar are Persian, Dari and Taijiki? If I learned Persian (the only one which I have access to classes) would I be able to understand the other two?

2. Has anyone ever made a living translating and interpreting speech and text? How is the work, what is your normal workday like, and how much do you get paid?

3. How hard is Persian to learn for an English speaker? What are some tips I should remember?

>>3 thanks for confirming the url, couldn't recall if it was a .net or something else.


I thought I would list some books titles I own, in addition mant of these books are now scanned and online.

Teach Yourself Modern Persian - N. Farzad
This was one of my txt books. The book is a mess, filled with mistakes and poor examples, however, there is a corrected second edition which I am informed is greatly improved.  So if decide to get this book - get the second edition

There is a scanned version on uz-translations (first edition only)

Colloquial Persian - Leila Moshiri
Better than the above book, however it does not have the persian script for txt so it is a little pointless as you will need to learn the script (its real easy)

Again there is a scanned version

An Introduction to Persian - Thackston
Most US colleges use this book, unfortunately it is extremely obtuse to understand.  I found it was a good book to examine after working on the more user friendly texts.

I think this is scanned.... I'd be surprised if it isnt.

Teach Yourself Modern Persian - John Mace
(This book was the edition before N.Farzad) Never used it, but many people reckon it is far better for learning than the update...
Again probably scanned.

Colloquial Persian - The complete course for beginners - Adbi Rafiee
Good book, imo the best for starters. Simple examples, useful phrases. Well thought out structure.

Scanned copy is available.


Farsi (Persian) Phrasebook - lonely planet
I found this very useful, still do from time to time.


I have lots more books, but these are the ones at hand....

>>4
I thought the Pimsleur course was a waste of time, you barely learn anything from it. But that is dependent on what you are trying to gain.

I recommended uz-translations, because most of the content originates there before moving to torrents, they have a ongoing scanning project for unusual language books.